Aftershocks
by A Midnight Dreary
Summary: -07movieverse- One of the Autobots doesn't like earthquakes.


**A/N:** In honor of the quake that woke me up last Friday morning. Apparently, I live not far from the "Wabash Valley Seismic Zone". Right around the edge of it, it looks like. The quake measured a 5.2 on the Richter scale and lasted about 45 seconds. That's a big deal all the way out here. So I decided to write a little something dealing with it. Short, kinda dumb, but I've learned to behead my plot bunnies early.

* * *

Aftershocks

"Earthquake! Earthquake! Judy, Sam! Get in the doorway! Earthquake!"

In a half-awake state, Sam realized that his bed was shaking and his dad was shouting, scrambling for the bathroom door. He heard his mother say something, but the words were lost to him. He cracked his eyes open halfway and saw that the alarm clock was dancing on the nightstand. To his dismay, it was only 5:37 in the morning. He rolled over and pretended the shaking was just the magic fingers that the bed didn't have.

"Judy! Sam! Get over here!"

"Oh Ron, it's not that bad. It's just a small one."

About 30 seconds later, the quake was over.

"See, just a small one." Judy said, compulsively straightening the alarm clock.

Ron poked his head out of the bathroom doorway and looked about the hotel room. The pictures were a bit tilted and the television appeared to be a bit cock-eyed, but otherwise, everything was alright. Car alarms were going on outside, however. Apparently the quake had been strong enough to set them off.

"Hmm, well, earthquakes aren't common in this part of the country." Ron said, heading back to the bed. "Got 'em all the time back in California!"

"And that's why we moved to Nevada." Judy said absently. "Get back in bed. Today's a big day for you."

Right, that convention-thing. That's why they were all the way out smack in the middle of the Midwest. Sam wondered why his parents couldn't have let him stay home, but then again, his father was getting honored during the opening ceremonies, so of course Sam had to come.

A raucous horn-honking sounded from the parking lot. Judy didn't even have to look as she lay back down. Sam was already rolling out of bed, quite literally, and he swiped his room key off the nightstand. Blindly, he staggered for the door and stepped outside, bare feet slapping on the cool pavement as he approached the yellow Camaro parked several spaces down. Noticing the teen's approach, the horn-honking died, along with a few other car alarms.

At least, Sam reflected, he hadn't had to spend the entire trip in the minivan with his parents. Their choice in music made him shiver.

"Just an earthquake, Bee." Sam yawned.

"Just an earthquake?!" The Camaro snorted. "Sam, earthquakes do not happen in this part of the nation! The nearest fault line is in the Ozarks! Unless they've got an undiscovered one around here--"

"Bumblebee, we're fine. It didn't even last a minute." Sam interrupted, waving a hand. He wanted to get back to bed before anyone woke up to see him talking to his car.

"It measured a 5.2!" Bumblebee hissed.

Sam blinked. Why was Bee so worked up about a little shaking? Maybe...

"Do you-- Do you not like earthquakes?" he wondered.

"No, I don't!" the disguised Autobot admitted in a voice that was becoming increasingly squeakier and higher-pitched. "There was this planet we landed on once! Horrible, Primus-forsaken planet! Had earthquakes every couple of hours! And acid rain! Acid rain, Sam! And the quakes lasted about 15 minutes every time! You couldn't walk anywhere! I nearly fell into this gigantic crack that opened up!"

Sam scratched at his head. Okay, that was a legitimate reason to be wary of earthquakes. But any fault lines out here weren't visible, unlike the San Andreas, and other than some shaking up, there didn't appear to be any damage done.

"Bee, it's fine. You're fine." Sam said, glancing around. It was still dark out, but the birds were starting chirp, no doubt shaken awake as well. "I'm going back to bed." He turned and started back to the room. "And watch out for the aftershocks."

Just as the teen stepped through the door, he heard a squeak come from the Camaro.

"Aftershocks?!"


End file.
